Following two successful events on fabrication during 2015, this endeavour will continue in San Jose, USA, in May 2016, with a workshop at CHI 2016:

Fabrication & HCI: Hobbyist Making, Industrial Production, and Beyond

The workshop is organised by Verena, Martin and Manfred together with Silvia Lindtner (University of Michigan, USA), Shaowen and Jeff Bardzell (Indiana University, USA), Andreas Reiter (University of Nottingham, UK) and Pernille Bjørn (University of Copenhagen, Denmark).

Therein, we seek to advance the discussion around making and fabrication in HCI, ranging from notions of hobbyist making, industrial production, and fabrication in research. It is a continuation of two preceding events on the topic, i.e., a Workshop at Critical Alternatives 2015, and an expert summit on Rethinking Technology Innovation: Factories, Fabrication & Design Research at the Center for HCI in September 2015. The workshop aims to elaborate on the mutual implications between changing fabrication cultures and HCI research and practice. We particularly aim to discuss critical alternatives that move us beyond the binary between hobbyist and industrial fabrication, focusing on the intersections, transitions, and fusions of diverse perspectives.

The aim of the workshop is to bring together different perspectives to discuss their inherent fabrication cultures, motivations, challenges, and, especially, intersections. Finally, we envision contouring a landscape of fabrication, aiming to critically examine implications for HCI research: What research agendas are related to fabrication? Which challenges do we face when researching fabrication? What economic / democratic visions do we need to take into account? Where are the blind spots in the landscape of fabrication research? How does fabrication practice relate to research? What happens if we fabricate in research?

The call for participation, details about the workshop and the organizers can be found on the workshop website.

Do not miss the submission deadline (January 4) and join us in San José in April 2016!